Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 104

melev · #**2576** 03/13/2005, 01:00 AM

I noticed this guy come out the other night while feeding the sun coral. Thought you might like to see him. So far, he's unnamed. Note the hermit crab for a sense of scale.

Rock Anemone · #**2577** 03/13/2005, 01:33 AM

It took me that long to read it all!

Rock Anemone

Lunchbucket · #**2578** 03/13/2005, 01:55 AM

WOW that is a biggie...guess he wants some food too

Lunchbucket

carpetride · #**2579** 03/13/2005, 08:39 AM

He looks like a "Wally" to me

maybe you should start a thread for naming it.

Poppy828 · #**2580** 03/13/2005, 09:07 AM

Morning Marc. Thanks for the reply.

I have a piece of old oyster shell I can use actually. I used to feed my puffers oysters as a treat right from the shell. They loved it.

Anyway, the clam moved last night right into the flow of one of the powerheads. I moved him back to his original spot last night and put the oyster shell underneath him. He attached himself to a tiny piece of broken off live rock he found under the sand. I left it attached and positioned him on the shell.

I wish I had the talent you do with acrylic so I could make the hanging box for him until he gets a bit bigger. I don't, so that is out of the question.

I will have to come up with something to help his journey for the next few months. I did add some DT's last night along with oyster eggs. I am sure he did not get much if any with the flow in the tank. Wife wants him to get really big so I need to do whatever I can to help him. I do also of course. But this is her baby. She talks to him and everything. Rather cute. She named him Mr. Clam Diggity. Gotta love my wife.

Thanks Marc.

Todd

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Your little guy will want to feel secure. I would ask your LFS if they have a half clam shell you can have to put it in, like a baby in a cradle. This will allow the clam to hold on to something solid, and allow you to move it if needed. Nothing can attack the clam from below because of the shell, and it gets it up off the sand a bit.

Barry at ClamsDirect and I talked about sand in the past, and he feels they are irritated by the grains, so this is another reason to put it on something just out of the sand.

I've always read that it is important to feed baby clams with phyto, and you can do that by either removing the clam and feeding it in a bowl of tank water with a little phyto, or cover the clam with a dome and squirt some phyto into the dome. Usually you will see the greenish water turn clear as the clam filters the food out of the water. The water does not need to be green, just a little green so do not over dose in an effort to be helpful. After 45 minutes, put the clam back in the tank or remove the dome. If removing the clam, be aware of the water temperature so that it doesn't differ too greatly from the tank's temperature.

For a little information about my baby clam, here's what I did about year ago:

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0504/baby_maxima.html

Poppy828 · #**2581** 03/13/2005, 11:22 AM

I took some pics of the tank this morning Marc. Nothing compared to your pics, but I tried. I shot a couple pics of the Dolabella Sea Hares for you also to view. The Teardrop did not come out as well as I hoped.

melev · #**2582** 03/13/2005, 12:52 PM

Very nice! I want to get a golden clam myself one day. I had one picked out at MACNA but someone else bought it.

Then the bag burst during the flight home and it was dead. That wouldn't have happened if I'd bought it, right? :sad:

I love the bunny!!! Those things are so cool. I was just checking the tank and feeding this morning, and noticed two of my nudibranchs are still in plain sight. I have to stare for a while to find more, and I don't even know if all six are still alive.

On a sad note, I'm starting to lose some corals again. One RTN'd very quickly within 10 hours - a really pretty A. tenuis. On some of the other corals (only a few), I'm noticing a brown film at the tips. Now that could be caused by my tangs munching on them, and an algae grows next, but I'm wanting to blame the Oceanic salt again. Since I can't prove it, that seems like a rediculous assumption, but I'd not done a water change in about 6 weeks or more, and all was well. I did a 50g water change and a week later I'm seeing problems. Another coral I'd got at MACNA last year is bleaching at the base, which was nice and encrusted. A tiny frag from one of Nathan's corals started losing tissue on the underside. Sigh. On top of that, I have 55g of newly made oceanic saltwater ready for a water change....

I think my next water change will be with Kent's Sea Salt, as I have two buckets on hand.

kal2310 · #**2583** 03/13/2005, 12:55 PM

Sorry to hear about your troubles melev. By the way about that worm, I think it looks like a Bernard.

beamer · #**2584** 03/13/2005, 01:44 PM

Marc, now you are scarring me about the Oceanic salt. Its what I've been using except for the last few months I've been mixing it about half and half with INstant Ocean and everything has been fine. I mixed it with IO in order to keep the Ca levels a little bit lower. I did about a 35-40 gl change yesterday and it was all Oceanic. (I ran out of the IO). How could Oceanic be causing the problems? Maybe just a coincidence?

I hope everything recovers o.k.
Are there any dips or anything like that that you can use with your corals to help out?

My nitrates continue to be around 160. I did my big water change yesterday. (previous one was about 2 weeks ago). I've made up about 50 gls of water and will try your method of reducing the nitrates. Is it really necessary to add old water to the new one or could I just change out 10-20 gls at a time, wait a couple of hours and then do another 10-20 gl water change? If you think adding the old to the new is better I will do that, I just didn't exactly understand the reasoning for doing that since its fixing to be diluted with tank water anyway.

Cindy

melev · #**2585** 03/13/2005, 02:10 PM

No, you can due huge back to back water changes. But it sounds like you have something creating your nitrates. Any sponges, filters, socks, bioballs anything?

Most corals that are hit with RTN do not recover. Sometimes the death doesn't spread to the entire coral, leaving you with a little bit to rebuild with.

IBASSFSH · #**2586** 03/13/2005, 02:32 PM

I have been using Instant Ocean salt since I set up my tanks. The local LFS started carrying Oceanic salt and said it was better than IO. I bought a big bucket and tried a 5 gallon water change. I lost all of my hard corals within the next few days due to it I believe. So I have not used it since and will not. I was too lazy to check the salt paremeters, but the tank had been doing great for a long long time. The only thing that changed was the salt. I still have a big bucket of that stuff, and I am trying to find someone willing to take it (free), with the warning of what it did to my tanks corals.

beamer · #**2587** 03/13/2005, 02:33 PM

Marc, Hopefully you'll be able to save some of all of your corals and hopefully they will come back stronger than before.

No sponges, filters, socks, bioballs . I take it back I do have a sponge in my sump where the water comes out of my skimmer. Its the only one though. I try to clean it every few days although that's not been happening very frequently these last few weeks due to being out of town so much. My problem seems to be from using the original sand bed that I purchased along with my tank and everything else inside. I should have started over with the sand.By the time the tank got moved back to Tyler and the sand dumped in it was all stirred up. It's been 11 mos. now since I had the tank moved and set up. Since I've had my Tunze streams the nitrates have been running even higher, but everything still looks good. I know I've been procrastinating but before too long I'll change out the sand bed and QT my fish and finally get the sump installed that you built for me.

Good luck with your corals Marc, you have such a beautiful tank and you've been an inspiration to all of us!

Cindy

WILDTHING · #**2588** 03/13/2005, 03:12 PM

Marc, sorry to hear about the trouble you're having with your corals. BTW, did you see this thread
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=511981

colleen

Poppy828 · #**2589** 03/13/2005, 03:42 PM

Thanks marc. The golden clams are Elizabeths favorite she said. If you'd have purchased that clam, it would have been fine for sure.

The bunnies are pretty neat. Brian at Blowfish Aquatics can hook you up. He is the only one I know that carries them.

Very sorry to hear about the coral problems. Hopefully you can salvage a little of each and regrow them. I am using Oceanic salt and have been since Sept. 04' with no ill effects. I am hoping your problems are not salt related. Have me a bit worried now. That sounds bad saying that. I hope you find the answer to this though.

Please let us know how the tank issues play out.

Best of luck with that.

Todd

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Very nice! I want to get a golden clam myself one day. I had one picked out at MACNA but someone else bought it. Then the bag burst during the flight home and it was dead. That wouldn't have happened if I'd bought it, right? :sad:

I love the bunny!!! Those things are so cool. I was just checking the tank and feeding this morning, and noticed two of my nudibranchs are still in plain sight. I have to stare for a while to find more, and I don't even know if all six are still alive.

On a sad note, I'm starting to lose some corals again. One RTN'd very quickly within 10 hours - a really pretty A. tenuis. On some of the other corals (only a few), I'm noticing a brown film at the tips. Now that could be caused by my tangs munching on them, and an algae grows next, but I'm wanting to blame the Oceanic salt again. Since I can't prove it, that seems like a rediculous assumption, but I'd not done a water change in about 6 weeks or more, and all was well. I did a 50g water change and a week later I'm seeing problems. Another coral I'd got at MACNA last year is bleaching at the base, which was nice and encrusted. A tiny frag from one of Nathan's corals started losing tissue on the underside. Sigh. On top of that, I have 55g of newly made oceanic saltwater ready for a water change....

I think my next water change will be with Kent's Sea Salt, as I have two buckets on hand.

NuclearReefs · #**2590** 03/13/2005, 09:41 PM

I took the remaining Oceanic salt I had and made weed killer out of it,, I figured i might as well kill something i had no use for it since it did enough damage in my tank before we moved my corals to marc's house.. i will never change salt again.. I may sample some seachem in a small nanoreef im setting up ,, but thats only because im getting some for free.. ( great to know people at seachem ) and the simple fact that i used to get 55 gallon drums from them for a 100$ ... Thing is,, i dont think its good to change salts.. that is like taking a coral to a different ocean in my eyes anymore.. "You think the water in the red sea is different than the pacific,how is this any different than changing salt.. it has everything to do with the change.... PROME ME WRONG!".....

Poppy828 · #**2591** 03/13/2005, 10:10 PM

And what salt do you use Nuclear?

Todd

Poppy828 · #**2592** 03/13/2005, 10:10 PM

And what salt do you use Nuclear?

Todd

Poppy828 · #**2593** 03/13/2005, 10:10 PM

And what salt do you use Nuclear?

Todd

melev · #**2594** 03/13/2005, 10:16 PM

You asked him 3 times?

Poppy828 · #**2595** 03/13/2005, 10:18 PM

Wanted to make sure he saw my question.....

OOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSYYYYYYYYYY

Sorry Mods. Was not intentional.

Todd

P.S. Let's see if I can do this response three times.

carpetride · #**2596** 03/13/2005, 10:20 PM

Sorry to here about your misfortune Marc, I had swapped to Oceanic and liked the results but then started having unexplained GHA outbreaks that I simply could not get under control. I can't prove that it was the salt but lets just say that I have a 3/4 full bucket in the shop if anyone wants it. Lots of threads about this with most of them having no real proof either way. I did empty out my salt mixing tub and wipe it completely down (had a nice coat of slime in it). On a side note my coralline has started to come back since I swapped back to IO.

angelfishlover · #**2597** 03/13/2005, 10:21 PM

Marc, It will be about a year before this happens but I would like to know ahead of time . How does this sound for a 55 reef?

1. Foxface
2. Hippo Tang
3. Pair of True Per. Clowns
4. Pinkspotted shrimp goby
5. Blackray Shrimp Goby
6. Lawnmower Blennie
7. 2 Engineer Gobies
8. Mandarin
9. Royal Gramma
10. Firefish
11. Anthia of some kind
12. Cleaner Wrasse
13. Flame Angel

I have all the gobies in my 29 exept the firefish, The Gramma, and the Foxface.

The tank will have a 20H sump and a UV sterilizer. I have not made up my mind on the skimmer

delta · #**2598** 03/13/2005, 10:22 PM

Quote:

but I'm wanting to blame the Oceanic salt again.

I would be willing to go along with this assumption after finishing up 4 water changes with Oceanic I will not be going back. not happy with the results on my corals as well as the algae growth in my tank. the only change in the tank was the salt. I thought the complaint were un warranted but from my experience I am on the band wagon.

since switching back to IO i have seen rapid improvements hopefully the same will happen for you

NuclearReefs · #**2599** 03/13/2005, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Poppy828
And what salt do you use Nuclear?

Todd

HW Marine mix
HW Marine mix
HW Marine mix

BURP!!!

melev · #**2600** 03/13/2005, 10:27 PM

15 fish in a 55g sounds like a huge bio-load, Nick. I had 9 in my 55g and it was rather crowded.

The engineer gobies are diggers, and will bring your LR crashing down as they burrow. I don't recommend those.

You can have a mandarin after the tank has been running for about 9 months. http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html

Cleaner Wrasses do not do well in captivity, and many die. Many suggest we leave these in the ocean.

The hippo tang would be nice, if bought small. However, at about one year, you should give it to someone with a larger tank. You could get another baby Hippo if you enjoyed keeping the first one.

Flame Angels are tough. 50% are reef-safe, the other half are not. They can and do drop dead for no obvious reason on Day 14, and again at Day 60. If you pass both of those, your fish will live a long life in a healthy tank.

You'll need a great skimmer, like an Aqua C Ev-180 to handle that load. If you want it to be a reef tank, you might forgo the UV sterilizer.